Yarn-feeding device for knitting-machines.



AK M, IGEOP'J,

YARN FHED'NG DEVICE FR KNETTNG MACUNES.

Arrmmos Mmm NovA aV wia 1,026,175, Patented May 14, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET L A. M. PIGEON. YARN FEEDING DEVICE FOR KNITTINGMACHINES.

APPLlGATlON FILED NOV. 8, 1910y 1,026,175. Patented May 14, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

INVENTOR: /lber JW. Pigeon,

A. M. PIGEON.

YARN FBEDING DEVICE FOR KNITTlNG MACBINBS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 8, 1910` 1,026,175. Patented May 14, 1912.

3 SHEETS ASHEET WITNESSESI INVENTOR:

fg M/ bel-@M Pigeon, @Md/gw Z i applicable to machines when the machinevthe sliding carrier which controls the feedlreceive and guide thePATENT 'lflijll@ ALBERT M. PIGEN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANA.

YARNAFEEDING DEVICE FOB KNITTING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Original application iled September 19, 1908, Serial November 8, 19] e.

Patented Eloy 14, Ti SH2. No. 453.774. Divided an?A this applicationfiled Serial No. .$551,265.

To all whom-15 may Concern l Be it known that I, Annen" M. Pinson. ofPhiladelphia, in the county of Philadelphia i and State of Pennsylvania,have inventedl certain new and useful Improvements inl YarnFeedingDevices for Knitting-Mw l cliines, whereof the following is aspecilication, reference being had to the accompanying drawings. l

My invention relates to knitting nxal chines ,employing independentlymovable needles. l have illustrated it in connection l with means forindependently actuating spring heard needles and also beard presser-s, lwith which they are associated. Said parts are combined to perform theoperation olf tubular knitting, with capacity for the insertion of heeland toe pockets as usually! practised in stocking knittcrs.

n its general aspect my machine has' been described in the specificationand i shown in the drawings of Letters Patent of i the United States No.943,230, granted to me I under date of December 14th, 1909 foriinprovements in knitting machines, from l which this casehasbeendivided, by virtue of a requirement for division.

The invention specially described and claimed herein relates moreparticularly to the thread feeding mechanism and the means provided forcontrolling the same. It is of diiferent types. It is characteristic ofmy invention that.

organized to perform i the operation known us fasl'iioning, in which aconstantly varying series of needles g is raised to the idle level, theposition and l operation of the thread feeding device is] controlled bythe needles themselves, so that its operation becomes dependent upon thesuccessive positions of the end needles of the series.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l, is a plan View of av portion ofa circular knittr conveniently illustrating my invention. Fig. II, is avertical sectional view taken on the line Il, Il, in Fig. I. Fig. IH,

a partial elevation of the machine looklng from the upper right handcorner of Fig. Fig. IV', is a perspective view of ing of the thread toThe machine shown in the several figures comprises a bed plate l, havingan annular groove or depression 2, which is adapted to the needles.

lower toothed peiiiilliery 2l. ofthe Acani cylinder i, whose cn an;zzctuate the needles in 'i well known munner. The cuni cylinder 4, isheld in place h v a ring 5, and rotated within thexhed l, Jy :i suitablepinion which engages itstoothcd periphery and is of ordinaryconstruction. and therefore not shown in the drawings.

A needle cylinder l0, is nnninted on plaie l, in stationary relationtliercto,.;ilhin the camv cylinder 4, and is provided with torti` calcircunit'erential grooves ll, within which the needles l?, operate,under the influence oi yth(` knitting cams nirendy mentioned. Theneedles here shown are of the spring heard type, -liut inv inventionequally ap plirable to machines in which the latch type of needles areused.

To the top of the needle cylinder it), is secured an annular plate l5,comprising 'rn-- dial grooves lt, in which the `'inlers i7, operate.under the influence of cams carried by the annular ringr 1S. whichsnrinouuts the plate 15, and is rotated in unison with the cum cylinderi. by reason ol the engage ment of its lng` li). il). with the carriedby the said cam cylinder 4.

A beard presser cani ring 25, rotatably secured to the 'dependingannular flange fill, of plate l5, by means of angle pieces 27, whoselater-el arms engage a peripheral groove 2S, in the said flange 26, asshown in Fig. lil. The said rine is also rotated in son with the camluder hy means of its adjustable angle luy-rI Ql. and 3U. which engagethe bracket 20. :il ,indy mentioned. The spacing of there lugs 30. outhe periph ery of the ring "2li, permits of shitting or" the pressercams relative to the stitch form ing cams on cylinder el, which isnecessary only during oscillatory knitting. The cams carried by theringQ, control the motion of the beard presser-s 31, which are receivedtogether with the needles l2, in the grooves ll, in cylinder l0.

The sinker cani plete 18, carries a tension device, which effects thesinker operating cams nud comprises e. ,:vivoted level-35, whose actionis under the control of a 'roller com 36.

The parts thus for explained forni no part of the present invention, andare more fully described in my previous patent above mentioned and in myco-pendmg application Serial No. 522,239, tiled October Qth, i909.

lbracket 20,

a bracket 51, which is secured to the outer periphery of the sinker camring 18, and supports an inclined arm 52, carrying at its outer end athread eye 53, which normally depends into the depression formed by theretraction of the sinkers il", as shown yat 55, in llig` Il, subject tothe pressure of a spring 56, which engages the arm and keeps the yoke50, in engagement with a stop 57, adjustably seciired to the upper faceof the earn ring 18. The yoke 50, also comprises an upwardlyextendingcurved piece 59, whose depending extremity supports a curved l'crossarm'fO, of which the curvature is concentric with the center of themachine. The lower edge of the arm 60, is recessed at 6l, thus formingshoulders, which are adapted to be engaged\by the rearwardly extendingfinger 62, on a sliding carriage 6,3, as will he more fully explained.The carriage 623, provided at its ends with laterally extending aps orwings 65, and 166, which are adapted to slide freely under thelimitations ot the adjustable collars 67, and (SS, respectively, on acurved guide wire 69, which is supported at its ends in brackets 70,secured to the top of cam plate i8. The carriage 63, tprther comprisesat 'its bottom horizontally extending arms 7l., and T2, which arerounded to conform with the mirvatnre of the needles against which theynormally rest as shown in Fig. Il, subject to the tension of springs 73,and 74, which are respectively secured at their outer ends to upwardlyextending wire arms 75, and 76, carried by the presser cam jecting iap77, on the said carirage 68. The curved arms 71, and/72, extend from ahorizontal conter plate S0, which projects laterally and inwardly from"thedepending arm 8]., of carriage 68, and is provided with inclined cam.edges S2.. The late 80, normally extends into the space a Vorded by thedescent of the needles shown at 83, in

Fig. Il, and is there" re not engaged byy them during circular* nitting,and hence performs no function/during that time. The collars 67, and 68,on 'the wire guide 69, are spaced so that the plate SO, Awill alwaysproject into the space occasioned in the needles by the action of thestitctfcams regardless of direction of rotation. This space shifts fromone side to the other Witn respect to the center cam during csciliatcryknitting, hence one of the collars eiiiective in one direction ofrotation and the other in the oppositie direction, therefore plate SC',is always maintained in proper position with-relation to the needles nomatter whnt the direction ot rotation.

it will be deemed g i behavior ot the only dni-ing; o45' ployed when ta;

escribe the :e machine ern- .tancc between its lugeI 29,

l lower edge of the cross ring 25, landata their inner ends'to `the preft series 'of needles,

since their position during circular knitting is clearly illustrated in,the drawings and fully explained herein hy the foregoing description. Y

During the course of circular knitting which immediately precedes thefirst course of oscillation, certain consecutive needles are thrown upto their idle level by suitable cams not shown in the drawings, but ofwell known construction. These needles form the so-called idle series.When the carriage 63, has advanced in the direction of the arrow in Fig.1', under the positive drive of collar 68, to the end needle of the idleseries, the nearest of the cam edges 82, on the plate 80, is engaged byit, thus causing the finger 62, to engage Jxhe curved arm 60, on the endof the piece 59, secured to the. pivoted yoke 50. The thread eye isthereby lifted so as to Withdraw the thread from proximity to theneedles during the remainder of this-course. This not only prevents thethread from being improperly engaged by any oit the operating parts, butalso assists in taking op its slack. As soon as the machine begins tc.rotate in the opposite direetion, the presser cam ring remains sta--tionary for a. short interval, due to the disand 30, which is necessary'to allow the shifting of its cams to their proper position relativetothe stitch cams for that direction of rota-tion. During this intervalthe carriage 63, also remains stationary in its raised position untilits linger 62, encounter vhe recess 61, in the ieee 60, whereupon one ofits engaging shou ders causes the said carriage to be carried with themoving cross arm 6G, and determines the proper. position at which thethread is to he fed when thev first needlewif the active series isreached. lt will be seen that the carriage 63, is now under theinfluence of neither of the collars 67, or 68, but is positivelydrivenpby engagethe recess of the cross piece 60, as above stated, andthat this engagement is maintained by the tension of a spring T3,created by the further relative shifting of the wie tion between thepresser cam ring y sinker cam plate 18, After thebraclmtl, reaches theangle ings 30, the ring 25, is positively driven 'until the direction ofmotion is again reversed. As soon as late 30, has passed the end needleof the id e series, it drops back to its normal posit-ion with itsextensions 71, and 72, gliding along the Shanks of the higher needles.This occasions the disengagement of. the finger 62, with the. shoulderof the recess in the cross piece 60, thus permitting the thread eye todrop into its normal place to feed the active By reason of the tensionspring 73, the carriage 63, remains mol inentarily .stationary until itis reached by 25, and

yment )of its finger 62, with the shoulder in 11e the collar 67, whichthen acts as a positive drive for that direction of rotation of themachine. During widening and narrowing for the knitting of the heel andtoc, the idle\ needles are constantly changing in number and the feedingposition of the thread is absolutely controlled by theneedles'themselves through the mechanism which I have thus described.

Having thus described my invention` I. claim: A

1. In a knitting machine, the combination of a series of independentlymovable needles, means for moving certain of said needles to a diiferentlevel to render the same idle, a thread feeding device, and meanscoperating with the end needles of the idle series for moving the threadfeeding device away from the needles.

2. In a circular knitting machine, the combination of two complementaryseries of needles a-t different levels; a thread feeding device; meanscoiiperating with the end needles of one of the series for drawing thethread away from the needles; and means cooperating with said firstmentioned means for placing the thread in feeding position, duringreciproeatory knitting.

3. In a knitting machine, the combination of a series of independentlymovable needles,

.signed my name at. Philadelphia,

means for supporting and oscillating saidV ing position upon thereversal of the direetion of movement of the machine.

4. In a knitting machine, the combination of a series of independentlymovable needles, sinkers having yarn engaging portions eooperating witheach needle, means for moving certain of said needles to a dierent levelto render the same idle, a thread feeding de' vice, and means coperatinwithfthe end needles in the idle series or moving the thread feedingdeviceW away from the idle needles and sinlcers coperating therewith.

ln testimony whereof, I have hereunto i Pennsylvania, this tiftlvday ofNovember 1910.

y AALBERT M. PIGEON. Witnesses:

JAMES H. BELL, E. L. FULLnRToN.

